Cowl doors are panels of semicylindrical shape having top longitudinal edges hinged about longitudinal axes and having bottom longitudinal edges fitted with locking means that enable them to be fastened to each other in a position where they are close together or docked.
The locking means are formed by locks distributed along the bottom longitudinal edges of the doors, these locks comprising hooking levers carried by one of the doors and operated by hand independently of one another to engage on hooking fingers mounted on the other one of the doors.
It has been found that cowl doors that have been opened for maintenance purposes are sometimes subsequently poorly reclosed, with some of the locks being forgotten or incompletely locked, and that can lead subsequently to the doors opening in flight and being torn off.
Proposals have already been made for locking apparatuses that seek to reduce this risk, relying on signaling means that are associated with the locks and that are mounted so as to be clearly visible in order to attract attention when the locks are unlocked or badly locked.
Known means of that type have nevertheless turned out to be relatively ineffective or else they are relatively complex and bulky, heavy and expensive.